Method and apparatus for providing customization of public safety answering point information delivery

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing emergency call (e-call) services is disclosed. A third-party service center receives a communication from a vehicle over a communication pathway. Signaling is automatically sent to the vehicle from the third-party service center over the communication pathway. Location information is received from the vehicle at the third-party service center in response to the signaling. Information is forwarded from the voice call and the location information to a public safety answering point (PSAP) determined by the third-party service center.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/209,120, filed on Mar. 13, 2014, which application claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/782,771, filed onMar. 14, 2013, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention lies in the field of telecommunications. Thepresent disclosure relates to providing emergency communications usingan automated emergency call solution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Motor vehicle emergency call systems are known in which a person indistress can get relatively immediate aid and rescue following a vehicleaccident or other emergency situation that occurs while the vehicle ison a roadway. Specifically, in such systems, a wireless radiotransmitter or transponder box is installed and located somewhere insidethe vehicle and, based upon pre-determined circumstances or events, forexample, deployment of an airbag, immediately and automaticallygenerates and transmits a radiating distress signal or voice call to oneor more remotely located central call centers or stations that,typically, have a standby dispatch system manned by call centerpersonnel. Thus, vehicle emergency call systems provide an invaluablelifesaving advantage by initiating an emergency signal almostinstantaneously and in circumstances where a person is incapacitated orotherwise unable to call for help.

In some applications, the wireless radio transponder is capable of bothtransmitting and receiving signals, thereby providing a two-waycommunication device that allows for the emergency response source(e.g., hospital, police, or fire emergency department) and/or thecentral call center to actively and/or remotely interrogate the vehicleemergency system or establish direct communication with the driver or apassenger of the vehicle. Accordingly, additional information can beacquired for assessing the emergency and determining the appropriateemergency response.

Adapting emergency call systems for use in a vehicle is complex andunique challenges arise in managing remote transfers of data to or froma disabled or damaged vehicle, which is especially true where emergencyinformation routing systems differ among the various regions in which avehicle can travel. The user interfaces alone are time-consuming todevelop and to operate.

A number of advances have been made to effectively and safely manage themultitude of incoming distress signals and data at the receiving end ofthe emergency call systems, including the establishment andimplementation of specific protocols and communication networks forresponding to the signals. For example, these system protocols arecapable of determining a priority for responding to the various incomingsignals, deciphering whether or not an emergency has occurred despiteerrors in the signal or disablement of the emergency call device insidethe vehicle, and allocating the distress signal and data to theappropriate emergency response team. Various system and call flowarchitectures exist that have been set aside and segregated specificallyfor the receiving side of the emergency call systems. These systemarchitectures involve either government organized public emergencyservices, private third-party emergency services, or an interrelatedcombination of both.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a prior art emergency call (e-call)system. Present systems allow a communication device in the vehicle todial a public safety answering point (PSAP). However, present systemshave to rely on the PSAP to accept the types of calls presented by thesesystems. Information provided to the PSAP is provided only over a voiceconnection. For example, when a vehicle detects a crash, an associatedwireless phone of the user dials 911. When the 911 call is answered by alive agent or call queuing system, the agent can use signaling toreceive latitude/longitude coordinates from the vehicle and obtain voicefrom the vehicle occupant. Prior art systems rely on the wireless phoneof the user and receive the location from either the vehicle's in-builthardware or from the phone's E911 infrastructure. If there is a problemdetermining the latitude/longitude of the vehicle from the vehicle orthe wireless phone of the user, the vehicle occupant may experience asignificant delay in receiving emergency services.

Prior art systems have significant disadvantages. As previously stated,all calls go directly to 911. Prior art systems provide no callscreening capability. Further, there is no future support for new dataand/or policies. Lastly, there is no way to adapt prior art systems tosupport local PSAP preferences, laws or regulations, especially wherethese preferences, laws, and regulations vary over time and geography.

Thus, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art systems,designs, and processes as discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an emergency call or e-call system that overcomesthe hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devicesand methods of this general type and that provide such features with athird-party service center or centers, e.g., Intrado, TCS, Northern 911,and/or government affiliated center or centers, e.g., PSAPs, forhandling e-call voice and position data.

The systems and methods provided are applicable to all emergency callservices or systems that exist in various locations where it would bebeneficial to have a “hybrid” solution between the public emergency callsystem and a third-party service center. The system is initiallytriggered by an incoming emergency call (referred herein as an“e-call”), such as a voice signal, from a vehicle or mobile device thatis relayed over a telecommunications channel. The transmission of theincoming emergency call can be activated, for example, by a motoristdepressing an in-vehicle emergency button or by in-vehicle equipmentautomatically dialing a call upon detection of an emergency condition ofthe vehicle sensed by one or more sensors (e.g., an airbag deployment).A third-party service center receives the e-call. An example of athird-party service center or a third-party service provider isdescribed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/468,146,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Simultaneously, and inparallel with the voice signal, a set of data can be generated by theemergency system inside the vehicle (e.g., from an in-vehicle satellitepositioning technology) and transmitted to the third-party servicecenter using, for example, an in-band modem or SMS, or any otheravailable data channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the voice and datasignals may be transmitted using Data Over Voice (DOV), or in-bandmodem, technology. In another exemplary embodiment, the information inthe data signals may be transmitted as a spoken audio signal on thevoice channel. Data may also be sent as a packet data message overavailable data transmission channels other than SMS.

From the data signals, a variety of pertinent information regarding thenature of the emergency can be determined. This information can include,but is not limited to, the event that triggered the emergency call orsignal, the physical location and condition of the vehicle (e.g., fromcrash/sensor data originating from the vehicle), the language preferenceof the driver, and the condition of the occupants inside the vehicle.Once the location of the vehicle is known, the third-party servicecenter can then determine which PSAP is appropriate for responding tothe emergency situation, for example, based upon the location of thevehicle.

Once the PSAP is selected, the third-party service center routes thecall to the selected PSAP. The third-party service center is able toconvert all of the necessary data information, e.g., vehicle sensor dataor vehicle location, into speech audio files in a target language using,for example, “text-to-speech” technology. The target language depends onthe language of the selected PSAP. The third-party service centertransmits the audio files (e.g., WAV files) or the agreed upon dataformat between the PSAP and the service center that match the emergencycall to a telephone or other communications portal of the selected PSAPin the language of the selected PSAP. In one exemplary embodiment, aunique identifier may be associated with the emergency call to ensurethat the correct pre-defined audio files or data format are transmittedto the intended PSAP. Thus, once the third-party service center hasestablished communication with the intended PSAP, the third-partyservice center plays announcements comprised of the e-call or otherassociated data to the PSAP in the target language, thereby minimizingany language barrier that might exist between the motorist and the PSAP.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided a methodfor providing emergency call (e-call) services using a third-partyservice center. A voice call is received from a vehicle. Dual tonemulti-frequency, single tone, or other signaling is automatically sentto the vehicle over the voice call. Location information is receivedfrom the vehicle in response to the dual tone multi-frequency signaling.Voice and location information is forwarded to a PSAP database forsubsequent forwarding to an appropriate PSAP. In one exemplaryembodiment, information can be relayed to the PSAP using voice prompts.In one exemplary embodiment, information can be relayed to the PSAPusing a data push. Information can also be relayed to the PSAP byputting data in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) header.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided a methodfor providing emergency call (e-call) services. A third-party servicecenter receives a voice call from a vehicle. Signaling is automaticallysent to the vehicle from the third-party service center over the voicecall. Location information is received from the vehicle at thethird-party service center in response to the signaling. Information isforwarded from the voice call and the location information to a publicsafety answering point (PSAP) determined by the third-party servicecenter.

in accordance with a further mode, the PSAP is determined with adatabase containing characteristic information on a plurality of PSAPs.

In accordance with an added mode, the database is used to select thePSAP using voice and/or location information.

In accordance with an additional mode, the database is resident in anexternal device.

In accordance with yet another mode, the external device includes anemergency services call router connected to the third-party servicecenter over an Internet connection.

In accordance with yet a further mode, the location information iscaptured from the voice call with an interactive voice recognition (IVR)unit of the third-party service center.

In accordance with yet an added mode, alternate position information isdetermined and the alternate position information is used to check thelocation information.

In accordance with yet an additional mode, the alternate positioninformation is provided by a mobile device locator that determines thealternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

In accordance with again another mode, rogue or runaway devices arescreened from reaching the PSAP.

In accordance with again a further mode, a live agent is used todetermine position information when useable location information cannotbe determined.

In accordance with again an added mode, a user is provided with anability to layer additional services on the call due to an interventionof the live agent.

With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided asystem for providing emergency call (e-call) services. The systemincludes a vehicle e-call system, a plurality of public safety answeringpoints (PSAPs), and a third party service center. The third partyservice center: receives a voice call from the vehicle e-call system;automatically sends signaling to the vehicle e-call system over thevoice call; receives location information from the vehicle e-call systemin response to the signaling; determines a selected one of the pluralityof PSAPs; and forwards information from the voice call and the locationinformation to the selected PSAP.

In accordance with a further feature, a database containingcharacteristic information on the plurality of PSAPs is used by thethird party service center to determine the selected PSAP.

In accordance with an added feature, the database is used to select thePSAP using voice and/or location information.

In accordance with an additional feature, the database is resident in anexternal device.

In accordance with yet another feature, the external device includes anemergency services call router connected to the third-party servicecenter over an Internet connection.

In accordance with yet a further feature, an interactive voicerecognition unit of the third-party service center captures locationinformation from the voice call.

In accordance with yet an added feature, alternate position informationis determined and the alternate position information is used to checkthe location information.

In accordance with yet an additional feature, a mobile device locatorprovides the alternate position information and determines the alternateposition information using cellular network-based methods.

In accordance with a concomitant feature, rogue or runaway devices arescreened from reaching the PSAP.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin a method and apparatus for providing customization of public safetyanswering point information delivery, it is, nevertheless, not intendedto be limited to the details shown because various modifications andstructural changes may be made therein without departing from the spiritof the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of theclaims. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments ofthe invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so asnot to obscure the relevant details of the invention.

Additional advantages and other features characteristic of the presentinvention will be set forth in the detailed description that follows andmay be apparent from the detailed description or may be learned bypractice of exemplary embodiments of the invention. Still otheradvantages of the invention may be realized by any of theinstrumentalities, methods, or combinations particularly pointed out inthe claims.

Other features that are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims. As required, detailed embodimentsof the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to beunderstood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of theinvention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specificstructural and functional details disclosed herein are not to beinterpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as arepresentative basis for teaching one of ordinary skill in the art tovariously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriatelydetailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are notintended to be limiting; but rather, to provide an understandabledescription of the invention. While the specification concludes withclaims defining the features of the invention that are regarded asnovel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood froma consideration of the following description in conjunction with thedrawing figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, which are not true to scale, and which, together with thedetailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of thespecification, serve to illustrate further various embodiments and toexplain various principles and advantages all in accordance with thepresent invention. Advantages of embodiments of the present inventionwill be apparent from the following detailed description of theexemplary embodiments thereof, which description should be considered inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block-circuit diagram of a prior art emergency call (e-call)system;

FIG. 2 is a block-circuit diagram of an exemplary embodiment of ane-call system;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a system forproviding an e-call service;

FIG. 4 is a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a systemfor providing an e-call service;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method forproviding an e-call service;

FIG. 6 is a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a systemfor providing an e-call service;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method forproviding an e-call service;

FIG. 8 is a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a methodfor providing an e-call service;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method forproviding an e-call service;

FIG. 10 is a first portion of a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment ofa method for providing an e-call service;

FIG. 11 is a second portion of the flow chart of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method forproviding an e-call service.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in variousforms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosedherein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis forthe claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in theart to variously employ the present invention in virtually anyappropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases usedherein are not intended to be limiting; but rather, to provide anunderstandable description of the invention. While the specificationconcludes with claims defining the features of the invention that areregarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be betterunderstood from a consideration of the following description inconjunction with the drawing figures, in which like reference numeralsare carried forward.

Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spiritor the scope of the invention. Additionally, well-known elements ofexemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detailor will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of theinvention.

Before the present invention is disclosed and described, it is to beunderstood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescribing particular embodiments only and is not intended to belimiting. The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one ormore than one. The term “plurality,” as used herein, is defined as twoor more than two. The term “another,” as used herein, is defined as atleast a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having,” as usedherein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term“coupled,” as used herein, is defined as connected, although notnecessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.

Relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the likemay be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from anotherentity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actualsuch relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms“comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An elementproceeded by “comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints,preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

As used herein, the term “about” or “approximately” applies to allnumeric values, Whether or not explicitly indicated. These termsgenerally refer to a range of numbers that one of skill in the art wouldconsider equivalent to the recited values (i.e., having the samefunction or result). In many instances these terms may include numbersthat are rounded to the nearest significant figure.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention describedherein may be comprised of one or more conventional processors andunique stored program instructions that control the one or moreprocessors to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processorcircuits and other elements, some, most, or all of the functions of thepowered injector devices described herein. The non-processor circuitsmay include, but are not limited to, signal drivers, clock circuits,power source circuits, and user input and output elements.Alternatively, some or all functions could be implemented by a statemachine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field-programmablegate arrays (FPGA), in which each function or some combinations ofcertain of the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of these approaches could also be used. Thus, methods andmeans for these functions have been described herein.

The terms “program,” “software,” “software application,” and the like asused herein, are defined as a sequence of instructions designed forexecution on a computer system. A “program,” “software,” “application,”“computer program,” or “software application” may include a subroutine,a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, anexecutable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an objectcode, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence ofinstructions designed for execution on a computer system.

Herein various embodiments of the present invention are described. Inmany of the different embodiments, features are similar. Therefore, toavoid redundancy, repetitive description of these similar features maynot be made in some circumstances. It shall be understood, however, thatdescription of a first-appearing feature applies to the later describedsimilar feature and each respective description, therefore, is to beincorporated therein without such repetition.

Described now are exemplary embodiments of the present invention.Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first,particularly to FIG. 2, there is shown a first exemplary embodiment ofan e-call system 200. The e-call system 200 includes a vehicle e-callsystem 205, a third-party service center 215, and at least one PSAP 210.The vehicle e-call system 205 places a call, e.g., an SOS signal, to thethird-party service center 215, the call being triggered, for example,by an automatic crash notification (ACN). In one exemplary embodiment,the call is placed through a phone of the driver that is paired to thevehicle using a short range wireless (SRW) protocol. In one exemplaryembodiment, an embedded device, e.g., a telematics unit that isintegrated with or user-removable from the vehicle, can be used to placethe call and route the data. Other ways to trigger a call to thethird-party service center include, but are not limited to, aninteractive voice response system in the vehicle, an SOS button in thevehicle, or a mobile application of a user device paired to the vehicle205. The vehicle 205 sends location data using a recorded ortext-to-speech message. The syntax and structure of the message mayvary, but the purpose of the message is to transfer, at a minimum, thelocation of the vehicle. An example of such a message is “Crash detectedat Latitude: 33.05995 Longitude: −97.09884.”

The third-party service center 215 automatically gathers data andinitiates voice and data communication between the vehicle 205 and thePSAP 210 through the service center 215. The third-party service center215 includes a call handler 220 (e.g., a server) that handles thee-calls. The call handler 220 includes an automatic interactive voicerecognition (IVR) unit 225 to capture information in the voice portionof the call. The voice portion can include audio informationrepresenting the location and, optionally, the call reason and thecustomer's preferred language. The third-party service center 215 canprovide services to customers who have not subscribed to enhancedservices. For subscribers to enhanced services, the data may includeother subscriber profile information and crash data as well. Subscriberprofile information can be entered by the subscriber using a userinterface 235 of the third-party service center 215, e.g., using acustomer device such as a computer or a mobile phone that accesses theuser interface 235 over the Internet. The IVR system of the third-partyservice center 215 recognizes the latitude and longitude from the voiceportion of the call. From this latitude and longitude information, thethird-party service center 215 identifies the appropriate PSAP 210 androutes the voice portion of the call and the location to the PSAP 210.The third-party service center 215 has attributes of the PSAP 210predefined so that the routing is tailored to the particularcharacteristics of the PSAP 210. (As new PSAPs 210 are created,communication characteristics are defined and stored and made availableto the third-party service center 215.) The voice portion of the callcan be converted into at least one audio file or pre-defined data formatfor conveyance to the PSAP 210. The PSAP 210 and emergency agenciesreceive data and voice forwarded from the third-party service center 215and respond.

The e-call service implemented by the third-party service center 215 isfully automated and can occur without involvement from a human agent.The third-party service center can determine and utilize the legal andpreferred method for information delivery to the PSAP 210 based on thelocation of the vehicle.

In a possible scenario, the third-party service center determines that avehicle is unable to provide a usable location. In one exemplaryembodiment, the third-party service center 215 uses alternativeautomated methods to determine a location of the vehicle to pass to thePSAP. The alternate automated methods can be implemented, for example,by an alternate position determination unit 230. In one exemplaryembodiment, when automated methods cannot be used to provide a usablelocation, the third-party service center 215 engages a human agent toresolve the location of the vehicle.

For example, some locations in which a PSAP 210 is situated considercertain prior art e-call systems as an auto-dial type call. For suchPSAPs 210, the third-party service center 215 to which the voice call isrouted understands the attributes of the PSAP 210 and the PSAP'schoice/attribute to not accept audio delivery of automated information.For this particular PSAP 210, therefore, the third-party service center215 engages a human agent for handling the e-call. In another example, aspecific jurisdiction may possess a system that allows location of thevehicle to be sent through a session initiation protocol (SIP) or anyother preferred data connection. In these cases, the third-party servicecenter 215, after capturing the information from the vehicle, deliversthe captured information to the PSAP 210 through the preferred dataconnection of that PSAP 210.

A configuration of this type allows for additional features to be addedinto the vehicle 205 without additional hardware requirements or vehiclemodification. In one exemplary embodiment, a user can subscribe toenhanced services, which are activated in certain situations. The usercan subscribe to these enhanced services through user interface 235. Forexample, when an ACN is generated from the vehicle 205, the third-partyservice center 215 can notify pre-defined emergency contacts. Thisenhanced service(s) can be provided prior to, simultaneous with, orsubsequent to the third-party service center's 215 communication of datato the PSAP 210.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method 300 forproviding an e-call service. At block 305, a call, e.g., an SOS signal,is received at a third-party service center 215 from a vehicle. At block310, signaling, which may be DTMF, single tone, or other signalingmeasures are sent automatically from the third-party service center 215to the vehicle. In response to the signaling, voice and locationinformation is received from the vehicle at block 315. Upon receipt, atblock 320, the third-party service center 215 selects a receiving PSAP210 utilizing a PSAP database containing location and attribute data forall PSAPs. At block 325, the voice and location information is forwardedto the selected recipient PSAP 210.

FIG. 4 illustrates a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of asystem for providing an e-call service. A vehicle 405 receives anindication of an event, e.g., an indication that an airbag has deployed.The vehicle 405 sends an emergency call request to a mobile device 410(e.g., a phone) that is connected with the vehicle 405 using ashort-range wireless (SRW) technology. For example, the vehicle 405 canbe paired with the phone 410 using Bluetooth. (The methods describedherein are not limited to using Bluetooth technology.) Other SRWtechnologies such as Wi-Fi direct or other personal area network (PAN)and/or local area network (LAN) technologies can be used to connect amobile device 410, e.g., phone, with the vehicle 405. The phone 410initiates a voice call with the third-party service center 415. Thethird-party service center 415 automatically sends DTMF signalingthrough the phone 410 to the vehicle 405. Although DTMF signaling isshown in FIG. 4, single tone, or other signaling measures can also beused. The DTMF signaling is interpreted by components in the vehicle405. In response to the DTMF signaling, the vehicle 405 sends voice andlocation information to the third-party service center 415. Thethird-party service center 415 sends the voice and/or locationinformation to a PSAP database 425, which is utilized to select anappropriate PSAP 430 to receive the call. The PSAP database 425 and/orthe third-party service center 415 transfers the voice information tothe appropriate PSAP 430 based on the location information received. Inone exemplary embodiment, the PSAP database 425 resides at thethird-party service center 215, 415. In another exemplary embodiment,the PSAP database 425 is resident in an external device, e.g., anemergency services call router, connected to the third-party servicecenter 415, for example, over the Internet.

FIG. 4 also shows an optional mobile device locator 420. The mobiledevice locator 420 can be used to determine position information usingcellular network-based methods, which are known to those skilled in theart and are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity. A method andsystem including a mobile device locator 420 is discussed with respectto FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method 500 forproviding an e-call service where location information is unavailable.At block 505, a call, e.g., an SOS signal, is received at a third-partyservice center 415 from a vehicle 405. At block 510, signaling, whichmay be DTMF, single tone, or other signaling measures, is sent from thethird-party service center 415 to the vehicle. Voice information isreceived from the vehicle, however, position information has not beenreceived in response to the signaling. In order to determine positioninformation of a vehicle, at block 515, a location request is sent to amobile device locator. At block 520, the location information isreceived by the third-party service center 415 from the mobile devicelocator. At block 525, the third-party service center 415 sends thevoice and/or location information to a PSAP database 425, which isutilized to select an appropriate PSAP 430 to receive the call. Finally,in block 530, the PSAP database 425 and/or the third-party servicecenter 415 transfers the voice information to the appropriate PSAP 430based on the location information received.

FIG. 6 illustrates a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of asystem for providing an e-call service where location information isunavailable. The vehicle 405 receives an indication of an event, e.g.,an indication that an airbag has deployed. The vehicle 405 sends anemergency call request to a mobile device 410 (e.g., a phone) that isconnected to the vehicle 405 using a short-range wireless technology.For example, the vehicle 405 can be paired with the phone 410 using anSRW technology. The phone 410 initiates a voice call with thethird-party service center 415. The third-party service center 415 sendssignaling to the vehicle 405 through the phone 410. In this example,voice data is received from the phone 410 but position informationcannot be determined. When DTMF, single tone, or other signaling doesnot return useable position information to the third-party servicecenter 415, the third-party service center 415 sends a location requestto a mobile device locator 420. The location request message sent to themobile device locator 420 may include, for example, a mobile numberand/or a mobile serial number of the phone 410. In one exemplaryembodiment, a temporary local directory number (TLDN) can be retrieved.Using a TLDN can preserve confidentiality in some cases. The TLDN canalso he used to deal with other issues such as contacting a phone thatis roaming outside of its home area or communicating with a phone thathas a dedicated non-traditionally dial-able phone. In response to thelocation request message, the mobile device locator 420 sends thelocation data of the phone. The third-party service center 415 sends thevoice and/or location information to the PSAP database 425 or processesthe voice and/or location data with the PSAP database 425. Based uponthe analysis by the PSAP database 425, the voice information istransferred to an appropriate PSAP 430, which can be dependent upon thelocation information.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method 700 forproviding an e-call service with a human operator. At block 705, a call,e.g., an SOS signal, is received at a third-party service center 415from a vehicle 405. At block 710, DTMF, single tone, or other signalingmeasures are sent from the third-party service center 415 to the vehicle405. Voice information is received from the vehicle, however, useableposition information has not been received in response to the signaling.In order to determine position information of a vehicle, at block 715, ahuman operator manually determines the location information. At block720, the third-party service center 415 sends the voice and/or locationinformation to a PSAP database 425, which is utilized to select anappropriate PSAP 430 to receive the call. Finally, in block 725, thePSAP database 425 and/or the third-party service center 415 transfersthe voice information to the appropriate PSAP 430 based on the locationinformation received.

FIG. 8 is a state-flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a methodfor providing an e-call service with a human operator. The vehicle 405receives an indication of an event, e.g., an indication that an airbaghas deployed. The vehicle 405 sends an emergency call request to amobile device 410 (e.g., a phone) that is connected to the vehicle 405using a short-range wireless technology. For example, the vehicle 405can be paired with the phone 410 using Bluetooth. The phone 410initiates a voice call with the third-party service center 415.Third-party service center 415 sends DTMF, single tone, or othersignaling to the phone 410. In this example, voice data is received fromthe phone 410 but position information cannot be determined. Whensignaling does not return useable position information to thethird-party service center 415, the third-party service center 415 mayuse a human operator 805 to manually determine position information.Once the location/position information has been determined, the operator805 sends the voice and location information to a PSAP database 425 orprocesses the voice and/or location data with the PSAP database 425.Based upon the analysis by the PSAP database 425, the voice informationis transferred to an appropriate PSAP 430, which can be dependent uponthe location information. In one exemplary embodiment, due to theintervention of the live agent 805, the user has the ability to layeradditional services onto the call handling.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method 900 forproviding an e-call service with a rogue or runaway handling procedure.At block 905, a call is received from a vehicle. At block 910, thethird-party service center 415 determines whether the call should beanswered. A private branch exchange (PBX) or microcontroller (e.g., anAVR) of the third-party service center 415 monitors an incoming callqueue. In one exemplary embodiment, the third party service center 415is able to directly receive mobile voice over IP (VoIP) calls, completewith data in the SIP header. The PBX or AVR determines whether thecalling device is a rogue or runaway. In one exemplary embodiment, arogue or runaway device is described as a device that places a certainamount of calls within a certain time period. If it is determined thatthe device is a rogue or runaway, the third-party service center 415initiates rogue/runaway device handling procedures. If it is determinedthat the call is a valid call, the PBX/AVR answers the call. At block915, position information is determined for the vehicle upon answeringthe call. To obtain position information, the third-party service center415 can use, for example, an identifier of the calling device to obtaina network position of the mobile device 410 (e.g., a phone). Thethird-party service center 415 also can use DTMF signaling over a voiceportion of the call to determine position information. When DTMFsignaling is used, an IVR of the third-party service center listens forthe voice portion of the call from the vehicle (or paired device). Ifthe information from the voice portion is invalid, the third-partyservice center 415 initiates silent or invalid voice procedures.Examples of silent or invalid voice information is noisy or garbledaudio or audio that cannot be transcribed. If the voice information isvalid, the IVR of the third-party service center 415 automatically sendsDTMF signaling, e.g., a DTMF tone. The IVR listens for a position to bereceived from the vehicle (or paired device). Once position informationis received, the data is transcribed by the IVR. In one exemplaryembodiment, other data types or media, such as image(s) or video(s) canbe sent by the vehicle in order, for example, to assess an accidentscene to bettor tailor a response.

At block 920, the validity of the position information is determined.The IVR determines whether a valid position has been received using thevoice prompts. If a valid position has not been determined using voiceprompts, the third-party service center 415 initiates silent or invalidposition procedures. If a valid position has been received using thevoice prompts, the third-party service center 415 then determineswhether the network position is valid. If the network position is valid,the third-party service center compares the voice prompt position to thenetwork position. The third-party service center 415 then determineswhether the voice prompt position and the network position areconsistent. If the position information is inconsistent, the third-partyservice center 415 initiates position inconsistency procedures. If theposition information is consistent, the valid transcribed voice promptposition is used at block 925. Likewise, if the network position isinvalid, the valid transcribed voice prompt position information is usedat block 925. At block 925, the position and voice information is sentto an emergency services call router for routing to an appropriate PSAP.

FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of amethod for providing an e-call service with E911. This exemplary methodassumes that a phone is paired to a vehicle using Bluetooth or someother short range wireless protocol and an E911 setting is fixed to ‘ON’at the vehicle or an application on the phone. At block 1002, an E911 istriggered in the vehicle. At block 1004, the vehicle (or a paired phone)dials a phone number of the third-party service center 415. When thecall is received from the vehicle, the third-party service center 415determines whether the call should be answered. A private branchexchange (PBX) or microcontroller, e.g., an AVR, of the third-partyservice center 415 monitors an incoming call queue. At block 1006, thePBX or AVR determines whether the calling device is a rogue or runaway.If it is determined that the device is a rogue or runaway, thethird-party service center 415 initiates rogue/runaway device handlingprocedures in order to screen calls from these devices from reaching thePSAP at block 1008. If it is determined that the call is a valid call,the PBX/AVR answers the call at block 1010.

Alternate position information is determined, e.g., using alternateposition information unit 230, for the vehicle upon answering the call.To obtain alternate position information, the third-party service center415 uses, for example, a network position of the calling device, e.g.,mobile device 410 at block 1012.

The third-party service center 415 also is capable of using DTMFsignaling over a voice channel to determine position information. WhenDTMF signaling is used, an IVR of the third-party service center 415listens for an E911 calling signal from the vehicle (or paired device)at block 1014. At block 1016, the vehicle plays an E911 calling signalover the voice call.

At block 1018, an IVR of the third-party service center determineswhether the E911 calling signal is valid. If the E911 calling signal isinvalid, the third-party service center initiates silent or invalid E911calling signal procedures at block 1020. If the E911 calling signal isvalid, the IVR of the third-party service center 415 automatically sendsDTMF signaling, e.g., DTMF 1, at block 1022. At block 1024, the IVRlistens for E911 position information to be received from the vehicle(or paired device). At block 1026, the vehicle plays the E911 positionover the call. Once E911 position information is received, the data istranscribed by the IVR.

The validity of the position information is then determined. At block1028, the IVR determines whether a valid E911 position has beenreceived. If a valid E911 position has not been determined, thethird-party service center 415 initiates silent or invalid positionprocedures at block 1030. If a valid E911 position has been received,the third-party service center 415 then determines whether the DIPnetwork position is valid at block 1032.

If the device network position is valid, the third-party service center415 compares the voice prompt position to the device network position atblock 1034. The third-party service center 415 then determines whetherthe voice prompt position and the device network position are consistentat block 1036. If the position information is inconsistent, thethird-party service center initiates position inconsistency proceduresat block 1038. If the position information is consistent, the validtranscribed E911 position is used at block 1040.

Likewise, if the device network position is invalid, the validtranscribed voice prompt position info at ion is used at block 1040. Inone exemplary embodiment, inconsistency between the device networkposition and the voice derived location can be resolved through the useof a human agent at the third-party service center 415.

At block 1040, the transcribed valid E911 position and the voice callare pushed to an emergency services call router, e.g., PSAP dB 425. Atblock 1042, the emergency services call router routes the positioninformation and voice call to the PSAP.

In one exemplary embodiment, a vehicle may send a valid request from avalid location, however, a driver of the vehicle does not want PSAPassistance. For example, a use (e.g., a driver of the vehicle) may beinvolved in a single car accident with a tree and the driver desires apersonal resolution without police assistance. Calls of this type occurover 25% of the time. Police receive calls only to be told not todispatch.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a methodfor providing an e-call service. At block 1205, after receiving a callfrom a vehicle, e.g., at blocks 305, 505, 705, 905, or 1004 of FIG. 3,FIG. 5, FIG. 7, FIG. 9, or FIG. 10, respectively, the third-partyservice center provides a call handling option to a user at block 1210.The third-party service center can send an audio message over the voicechannel to the driver of the vehicle. For example, the driver of thevehicle can be asked “Are you requesting emergency services, contactnotification, or cancel?” At block 1215, IVR is used to capture andscreen a response from the user. At block 1220, options for handling thecall as an emergency call, selecting enhanced services, and/or cancelingthe call are provided to the user. When a user elects to cancel a call,the call ends at block 1235.

At block 1225, an indication that the emergency call option has beenselected by the user is received. At this point, the method proceeds toblocks 310, 510, 710, 910, or 1006 of FIG. 3, FIG. 5, FIG. 7, FIG. 9, orFIG. 10, respectively. If no answer is provided to the IVR, the methodproceeds to blocks 310, 510, 710, 910, or 1006 as previously statedunless the device is a rogue device. Enhanced services can be utilizedin addition to emergency services at block 1230.

At block 1230, an indication that the enhanced services option has beenselected by the user is received. Enhanced services can include, but arenot limited to, private accident handling, insurance notification,replacement vehicle coordination, or third party notifications. Afterthe user selects enhanced services, the user can elect the emergencycall option at block 1225 or end the call at block 1235.

The e-call systems and processes disclosed herein provides numerousbenefits. The present e-call system speeds up the emergency dispatchprocess by eliminating voice-based call transfer to PSAPs. Servicemigration is enabled to support response specialist delivered emergencyservices. The cost for service delivery is lowered. The e-call systemsupports server-based adjustments to service delivery, which ensurescompliance with legislation and optimal handling of calls for customerprotection. For example, if a PSAP decides not to accept “auto-dial”calls any longer, the e-call system can adjust call handling in theserver. Lastly, a personal level of service can be retained, forexample, when an enhanced service like emergency contact notification isused.

It is noted that various individual features of the inventive processesand systems may be described only in one exemplary embodiment herein.The particular choice for description herein with regard to a singleexemplary embodiment is not to be taken as a limitation that theparticular feature is only applicable to the embodiment in which it isdescribed. All features described herein are equally applicable to,additive, or interchangeable with any or all of the other exemplaryembodiments described herein and in any combination or grouping orarrangement. In particular, use of a single reference numeral herein toillustrate, define, or describe a particular feature does not mean thatthe feature cannot be associated or equated to another feature inanother drawing figure or description. Further, where two or morereference numerals are used in the figures or in the drawings, thisshould not be construed as being limited to only those embodiments orfeatures, they are equally applicable to similar features or not areference numeral is used or another reference numeral is omitted.

The phrase “at least one of A and B” is used herein and/or in thefollowing claims, where A and B are variables indicating a particularobject or attribute. When used, this phrase is intended to and is herebydefined as a choice of A or B or both A and B, which is similar to thephrase “and/or”. Where more than two variables are present in such aphrase, this phrase is hereby defined as including only one of thevariables, any one of the variables, any combination of any of thevariables, and all of the variables.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings illustrate theprinciples, exemplary embodiments, and modes of operation of theinvention. However, the invention should not be construed as beinglimited to the particular embodiments discussed above. Additionalvariations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art and the above-described embodiments should beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Accordingly, it shouldbe appreciated that variations to those embodiments can be made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing emergency call services,which comprises: receiving at an automated third-party service center acommunication from a vehicle over a data channel; automatically sendingsignaling to the vehicle from the third-party service center; receivingat the third-party service center over the data channel in response tothe signaling, synthetic audio in the form of recorded audio ortext-to-speech message from the vehicle, the synthetic audio beinggenerated by a vehicle e-call system and representing locationinformation comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates ofthe vehicle; using an automated speech recognition system located at thethird-party service center, transcribing from the synthetic audio andinto text data at least the latitude and longitude coordinates todetermine if the coordinates are valid; and if the coordinates arevalid, automatically forwarding information from the vehiclecommunication and the location information to a public safety answeringpoint (PSAP) determined by the third-party service center.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the speech recognition system acceptspacket audio data.
 3. The method according to claim 1, which furthercomprises determining the PSAP with a database containing characteristicinformation on a plurality of PSAPs.
 4. The method according to claim 3,which further comprises utilizing the database to select the PSAP usingvoice and/or location information.
 5. The method according to claim 4,wherein the database is resident in an external device.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the external device comprises an emergencyservices call router connected to the third-party service center over anInternet connection.
 7. The method according to claim 1, which furthercomprises determining alternate position information and using thealternate position information to check the location information.
 8. Themethod according to claim 7, wherein the alternate position informationis provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternateposition information using cellular network-based methods.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, which further comprises using a live agent todetermine the location information when useable location informationcannot be determined automatically.
 10. A system for providing emergencycall services, which comprises: a vehicle e-call system; a plurality ofpublic safety answering points (PSAPs); and an automated third-partyservice center that: receives a communication from the vehicle e-callsystem over a data channel; automatically sends signaling to the vehiclee-call system in response to the communication received from the vehiclee-call system; in response to the signaling, receives synthetic audiofrom the vehicle e-call system over the data channel, the syntheticaudio being in the form of recorded audio or a text-to-speech messageand representing location information comprising at least latitude andlongitude coordinates of the vehicle; using an automated speechrecognition system located at the third-party service center,transcribing from the synthetic audio and into text data at least thelatitude and longitude coordinates to determine if the coordinates arevalid; if the coordinates are valid, determines a selected one of theplurality of PSAPs; and automatically forwards information from thevehicle communication and the location information to the selected PSAP.11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the speech recognitionsystem accepts packet audio data.
 12. The system according to claim 10,wherein the plurality of public safety answering points (PSAPs) eachhave characteristic information and further comprising a databasecontaining the characteristic information on the plurality of PSAPs usedby the third-party service center to determine the selected PSAP. 13.The system according to claim 12, wherein the third-party service centeraccesses the database to select the PSAP using voice and/or locationinformation.
 14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the databaseis resident in an external device.
 15. The system according to claim 14,wherein the external device comprises an emergency services call routerconnected to the third-party service center over an Internet connection.16. The system according to claim 10, wherein the third-party servicecenter determines alternate position information and uses the alternateposition information to check the location information.
 17. The systemaccording to claim 16, further comprising a mobile device locator thatprovides the alternate position information and determines the alternateposition information using cellular network-based methods.
 18. Thesystem according to claim 10, wherein the third-party service centerscreens rogue or runaway devices from reaching the PSAP.